I am presenting tonight at Ignite Boulder along with the amazing Tara Anderson on “Colorado: The Napa Valley of Beer.” I am by no means a real beer expert or connoisseur. But in 2007, my friend Cara and I attempted to visit more than 100 of Colorado’s microbrews, brew pubs, craft brewers and large brewers. We made it to 27. Which is essentially a grade F in our attempt, but still makes me fairly proficient in Colorado beer. I’d fail at a taste test and couldn’t make you homemade beer, but have mad skills when it comes to throwing around terms like diatomaceous earth (a type of filtering method). Like most faux experts, you can attempt to come off as an expert by throwing around big words. You’ll still look stupid, but if you’re with beer drinkers, they’ll hopefully be too drunk to notice.
Many of these places offer scheduled tours, but a lot don’t. We always went ahead and asked anyway. The analogy we used was – “You know how some guys try to visit every ballpark in America? We’re trying to do that with breweries in Colorado.” It almost always worked. Being female also probably helped. Having a friend that looks like Katie Holmes was probably the kicker. Also, ask brewers what breweries they think you should also visit. Most were happy to recommend other breweries they admired. Interestingly enough, many weren’t fans of New Belgium Brewery. The brewing community is an open, friendly and passionate group with a great community orientation. Frankly, it reminds me a lot of the Boulder/Denver tech scene.
I’d love to get back into brewery tours. There are so many I’ve yet to make it too. Drop me a note if you want to come with. And if you want to see the breweries Cara and I made it to, below are all 27. I’m too lazy to provide hyperlinks t to all of them, but you can check out this list for more details on the breweries. Also, be sure to go to an Ignite if you get the chance. They’re amazing.
Photo Courtesy of Yann Ropars
Vail/Breckenridge/Frisco/Idaho Springs/Keystone
Dillon Dam
Gore Range Brewery
Backcountry Brewery
Breckenridge Brewery
Tommyknockers
Great Northern Brewery
Denver
Great Divide – My favorite brewery
Flying Dog (now brewed in Maryland)
Breckenridge Brewery. Again. (Toured the one on XX)
Wynkoop
Aurora
Dry Dock – Also a homebrew shop
Golden
Coors (pro tip: you can skip the tour, and go straight to the tasting room)
Fort Collins
Odells
New Belgium
Fort Collins Brewery
Budweiser (the beer is crappy but the Clydesdales are fun)
CooperSmiths
Boulder/Longmont/Lyons
Oskars
Boulder Brewery
Avery
Twisted Pine
Left Hand
Red Fish (now Draft House)
Mountain Sun
Walnut Brewery
Mead Winery
Pumphouse
